If Not Her, You

Part 4

The door slamming at the top of the staircase startles Adeline out of her foggy sleep. The lights click on overhead and she winces. Bennett stumbles down the stairs and he laughs when he gets to the bottom. He walks over to her, whistling while he does. The tune of the song sends shivers down Adeline's spine. Patience byGuns N' Roses. It was the first concert they ever went to together. He kissed her during the final song and asked her to be his girlfriend. She was so excited that tears sprang to her eyes when he asked. It was one of the best nights of her life.

            The whistling dies off when Bennett stops in front of her. He looks down at her and clicks his tongue. "Addie? Why is it so cold in the house?" Adeline blinks in confusion, trying to shield her eyes from the basement lights.

            "What do you mean?" As she speaks she notices the cloud of condensation in the air that hang off her words. It is cold.

            "I mean why is it so cold in this fucking house?" Bennett snaps. He crouches down so they're eye level and glares at her. She flinches away from him.

            "I–I turned the valve off because it was too hot –"

            Bennett laughs angrily. He smashes the left side of her face against the metal pipes and she feels her cheek split. Her blood is hot as it rolls down her skin and drips onto the ground. The sound seems to echo in her head. "You dumb bitch. I only run this radiator and one other in the house because heat rises! It's cheaper. Do you know how much time it's going to take to get the house to be comfortable again?"

            Adeline's brows come together in confusion. That doesn't make any sense but she doesn't see a point in telling him that. She doesn't have time to think about it again because Bennett grabs her at the ankles, yanking her down to the ground. Her arms wretch upwards and she shrieks as the cuffs bite against her open wounds.

            "Shut up," Bennett snaps. He grabs the bottoms of her pant legs and jerks. She attempts to twist away but when his boot connects swiftly with her hip bone she stops struggling, letting out a feeble plea for him to stop. He tears her pants from her and throws them across the basement. "Since it was too hot you don't need those, do you? Do you?" She shakes her head quickly and he smiles.

            "Good girl. Now ask me about my date," Bennett commands.

            "How was your date?" Her voice comes out hollow and emotionless but he doesn't seem to mind.

            "It was wonderful, Addie. I really liked this girl. She was beautiful and kind and smart, like you. But she was funny and witty. She had an attitude towards the waiter that I didn't care for but other than that she was wonderful."

            Was, was, was, was; the girl is dead.

            "You killed her, didn't you?" Adeline mumbles. She drops her head down and rests against the radiator. At least with it cold she can lean against it.

            "Oh, Addie, it was beautiful. You should've seen her face when she realized that her time was up," Bennett says and sits on the floor next to her. He pats her bare thigh and smiles so wide his eyes crinkle. That's the smile he gave her when she won The President's Award her junior year, when she got accepted for her internship last summer, when she said I love you for the first time.  For a split second, Adeline sees her Bennett in him, her boyfriend, her best friend. Tears burn in her eyes and she can't help when they spill down her face.

            "Addie? Now isn't the time to cry. You're supposed to be happy for me. You see, if I didn't hurt her, I'd have had to have hurt you. And I don't want to hurt you. I never want to hurt you," Bennett says. He smiles and leans forward just enough to kiss her cheek. "Unless you deserve it."

            She swallows and fear makes the hairs on her neck rise. He stands and grabs her left hand in his. He squeezes tightly and she shakes her head. "You can't just do bad things and not suffer any consequences, Addie. You did a bad thing."  He takes her thumb in his hand and snaps it straight back. She shrieks in agony, jerking her hand away. Her already broken fingers smack against the radiator and pain ricochets through her entire body.

            "Bad decisions resort in consequences," Bennett says curtly and turns away from her. He walks up the stairs and turns the lights off. The door slams shut behind him and the deadbolt slides into place.

            Adeline cradles her broken fingers and thumb against her chest and inhales unsteadily. Pain throbs through her hand and she leans to the side to vomit on the cold stone ground. She rests her head against the radiator moving her arm as she does so. The pain continues to throb down her arm but the cuff slides further up her wrist. She grabs it in her right hand and takes a deep breath.

            "On three," she whispers to herself. "One...two...three." She yanks the cuff down her wrist and it scrapes against all her broken bones. Pain rips through her entire body but the cuff flies free. It clangs against the radiator and she curses as it echoes through the basement. She slips the cuffs through the pipes and collapses against the ground, exhaustion taking over her body. Her eyes flutter shut and the darkness swallows her.